Lotus F1 announces new challenger name, "E20"

Lotus F1 Team press release

Don’t Stop Me Now

Lotus F1 Team announces new chassis nomenclature commencing with the E20

Kimi Raikkonen tests the 2010 Lotus Renault

Photo by: Lotus Renault GP

Lotus F1 Team is pleased to announce that this year’s Formula 1 challenger will be
named the E20, with a new nomenclature commencing to commemorate the
twentieth chassis designed at the team’s base in Enstone, Oxfordshire.

The E20 will be unveiled through the team’s website, Lotus F1 Team
on February 5th and shown to the world’s media the following day in Jerez, Spain
when it will briefly take to the track for filming. On February 7th team race driver
Kimi Räikkönen will start the team’s test programme at Jerez.

Enstone has been a Formula 1 team base since 1992, with the team then known as
Benetton moving to the facility from its previous Witney, Oxfordshire, base.
This season will see the 500th Grand Prix contested by Lotus F1 Team, including
those contested through its previous incarnations. Lotus F1 Team’s roots can be
traced to Toleman Motorsport, which entered Formula 1 in 1981 and started 57
Grands Prix. For 1986 the team was renamed as Benetton, and in this guise 260
races were contested until in 2002 the team became Renault F1 Team.

We hope that the E20 proves to be a performing Enstone design.

Eric Boullier

As Renault F1 Team, 159 Grands Prix were started, with the team becoming Lotus
Renault GP for 2011, contesting a further 19 events. The current total of Grands Prix
stands at 495.

The 60% scale wind tunnel and the new 'Driver in the Loop' simulator, which is
currently being built, are two examples of the team's continued investments in its
Enstone facilities.

Eric Boullier, Team Principal and Managing Director: “Our naming of the chassis to
recognise Enstone’s importance to the team’s evolution highlights our recognition
of the contribution of the facility and the personnel who work tirelessly every year
to produce the very best car possible. We certainly hope that this is the case with
the E20 and we are looking forward to revealing the car to the world and seeing it
out on track for the first time. There are a number of technical changes from last
year and we have an exciting new driver line-up to extract the maximum from the
E20 through the twenty Grands Prix of the 2012 season, including the 500th race for
this team through its different incarnations. We hope that the E20 proves to be a
performing Enstone design.”